Who would have thought that your mid 30’s could be such a good time to launch a serious musical career? Perhaps to conventional wisdom and country radio, 35 is about the time to put a performer out to pasture. But for Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, and Chris Stapleton, it was the moment when it all came together for them. Same is the case for Ashley McBryde. Maybe your mid 30’s is the time when the culmination of life experiences makes your songwriting especially potent, and dues paid conjoin with the wisdom of how to proceed smartly in your career, and next thing you know you’re being graced with opportunity.

Whether radio pays attention to Ashley McBryde or not, she will be okay because she’s a fighter, and a hard worker. Most importantly, she has songs. Ashley McBryde doesn’t need radio; she’s accrued fans from the sheer strength of her music. She’s not sitting at home with bated breath, waiting for radio to create a career for her, she’s been out on the road for much of 2018 making fans one at a time, selling hard tickets, and cultivating strong grassroots. Eric Church lit a spark for Ashley McBryde, but she’s stoking her own fire.

Quality songs, and success beyond radio is one of the reasons The Recording Academy decided to grace Ashley McBryde’s debut major label release Girl Going Nowhere with a Best Country Album nomination. Now it will be Grammy-nominated Ashley McBryde coming to your town, or requesting radio play her latest single, which has been deemed to be the title track from that Grammy-nominated album, impacting country radio at the beginning of the new year on January 14th.

A while ago Saving Country Music illustrated how it’s not just the closed-mindedness of radio that is resulting in so few women being played, but a lack of support by the major labels behind women and their singles. Ads placed (or a lack thereof) in country radio’s trade periodicals such as Country Aircheck and Billboard Country Update were used as examples. A positive sign for Ashley McBryde is that Warner Nashville took out a full page ad this week in Country Aircheck congratulating McBryde on her Best Country Album Grammy nomination, and underscoring the radio add date for the new single.

Running the same young women with sensible pop songs at radio hasn’t worked. Perhaps what we need is a different approach, and one which Ashley McBryde embodies in sound and spirit. She has enjoyed some success on radio. McBryde’s lead single “Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega” debuted as the most-added song on radio when it was first released, and though hitting #30 is probably not what Warner Nashville and Ashley McBryde was hoping for, that’s actually not bad for a female debut these days.

You could look at it as a negative sign that McBryde’s second single “Radioland” fizzled so quickly and failed to chart, or you could see it as positive that Warner Bros. Nashville saw it wasn’t going to fly, and pulled away from it quickly instead of leaving it and Ashley in limbo for six months as labels often do. There are many positive signs that Warner Nashville wants to make the Ashley McBryde experiment work, and that they believe in her. She probably doesn’t receive a Grammy nomination otherwise.

It’s all lining up for “Girl Goin’ Nowhere” to be a defining moment. Which is good, because it’s a good song. It’s the song that made everyone fall in love with Ashley to begin with, when they saw her debut it on the Grand Ole Opry. It’s her story set to song, and even the shallow ears of radio will find it hard not to be stirred by it.

“Girl Goin’ Nowhere’ is all about persevering through hardship, and of overcoming the doubters. But to get there, you first have to experience that hardship, and have been tested in the furnace of life to prove you pass muster. You don’t have to be in your 30’s to experience the full spectrum of problems and lessons life can throw at you, but it’s certainly more common. Mainstream country solved it’s problem of being disconnected from its roots when Chris Stapleton proved people wanted to hear someone who’d experience a little bit of life beyond the 20-something dating scene. Now it might be Ashley McBryde’s turn.

But an artist like Ashley McBryde doesn’t need radio. Stapleton, Sturgill, and Isbell proved that. It’s radio that needs an artist like Ashley McBryde. Radio shouldn’t play McBryde just because she’s a woman. They should play her because she’s real. Ultimately, “Girl Goin’ Nowhere” may fail at radio. In fact there’s a decent chance that it will given the current environment. But with a Grammy nomination, a swelling fans base, and much peer appreciation, Ashley McBryde is going somewhere regardless. The only question is if radio will be smart enough to follow.

31 Comments

Lisa
December 13, 2018 @
9:00 am

I just love Ashley McBryde and was so excited to see her album be nominated for a Grammy. Girl Going Nowhere is a great song made even better by her magnificent vocals. Bible and a .44 is a great song also.
I sure hope GGN does well on radio. Unfortunately I’m not sure the casual listener can appreciate how good this song is. At any rate, her career is on the rise – she is opening for George Strait! Not bad for a girl going nowhere. (Sorry y’all I had to say it)

I recently discovered her. The rare occasion radio was on in the car ‘Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega’ was playing. I was sooo blown away that country was being played on country radio. I looked her up on YouTube and watched a few acoustic videos and WOW her voice & power of it is just amazing. She also has a great acoustic cover of ‘Hell on Heels’ by the Pistol Annie’s if anyone is interested.

I’m glad she received a nomination and the label is backing her right now. Should work a bit to get people to discover her, I hope!

When it’s my turn to pick the music in the car, my fifth grader, who likes to listen to the pop country stations, will typically request Ashley McBryde, which is on the car’s hard disk. So I think her music could resonate on country radio if given a chance.

Do yourself a favor, and watch that above posted “Opry Live” version of “Girl Goin Nowhere”.. I watch it a few times a week. You can see a lifetime of dreams and hard work come out right in that little wooden circle. Chicken skin moments for sure.

I’m glad this is finally going to be released to radio. It has a good chance of at least going to the top 10, if not #1. Maybe in 7 years the CMAs can give her a “new artist” award after she has won a Grammy. Happy for her, well deserved.

I recall working at struggling clubs over the years where they would decide to change their live music format ..perhaps going from rock/-pop to country . They would do so ….try it for a few months and wonder why it may not be working . It wasn’t working because it takes longer than a few months for a club to find its market….for word to get out that it has changed ……for the rock folks to stop questioning ‘why the change …. where’s the rock bands ‘ ..?

Thing is ….at this point radio is in a similar situation as those struggling clubs . GREAT women COUNTRY artists ( Ashley ) are releasing GREAT material ……but radio is forced-feeding it to a demograpic that isn’t ‘ conditioned ‘ ( that doesn’t like broccoli )…so they back off .

Rather …..they need to realize and appreciate the success of Stapleton , Ashley , Kacey and others and COMMIT to playing this stuff until the demograpic that is obviously supporting these authentic artists finds them ON RADIO . They’ve driven these REAL fans of REAL music away with the pap and drivel they are calling ‘ country ‘ music and radio is now addicted to those flighty , young pop pseudo ‘ country’ kids.

You need to let the market find YOU and it takes a bit of time and a serious commitment , as does any business endeavour . It took time to LOSE them ….it will take time for them to find you again .

Ashely should be HUGE on radio ….but when she’s played alongside listeners conditioned to FGL’s nursery rhymes and Luke’s ass and his ‘ all about you girl ‘ excuses for songs its like trying to introduce a four year old fan of Sesame Street to Cameron’s TITANIC . ( no offense to Big Bird whatsoever ).

Its been shown time and time again that THERE IS AN AUDIENCE FOR SUBSTANCE AND QUALITY ( cable TV anyone ? ) . But its a different audience than the one radio thinks it can convert . Its an audience who has given up on radio and has found quality elsewhere all on its own .

Radio stations should do themselves & their listeners a favor & play Ashley’s music! She is the real deal—voice, passion, grit & lyrics like none of us have heard for years! And go see her live—amazing!

Radioland was a really really bad song. I’m not sure about Girl Going Nowhere either. I hope I’m wrong. If I was in charge of her career I would release Tired of Being Happy. I feel that song could work on radio and could be a strong video.

…….and THAT is the shame of it . Did we consider James Taylors’ songs as ‘ jingles ‘?
Did we consider ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ a jingle ? Were Don Wiliams’ beautiful substance driven songs just jungles ? Dolly’s ” Jolene ” ?…..” Cat’s In The Cradle “‘..?
These were amazingly creative ventures NOT designed to sell cars but to sell a sentiment , a REAL emotion …to honestly engage a listener who might understand or relate to those heartfelt sentiments.

Stapleton isn’t singing trite jingles . Miranda’s ” Keeper Of The Flame ” isn’t a jingle…..Anderson’s ” Whiskey Lullaby ” is certainly not a jingle ….nothing of substance is wanted or required by ‘ country ‘ radio today . And that IS the shame of it all .

Sheeple (average people acting like sheep) don’t think that it’s “something to check the weather and traffic” on Orest they think that the radio must be playing the “best” songs because why wouldn’t they? They think those artists on the radio must be the best ones because only the best get to be played on the radio right? THEY think wrong. They don’t think like WE on this site do. They don’t realize or care about the music business/radio station playlist game or that there are better artists more deserving of that coveted airplay. I actually only use the radio for sports talk 99% of the time and even that’s for very short periods of time so radio does serve a purpose for me….lol

I think this song has a chance to be really successful. This type of song is a format that has been done many times in country music and has been successful. I am not comparing songs exactly, but it fits a similar theme such as “How do You Like me Now” or “I’m Gonna Be Somebody” and I mean this in theme. It is a very simple message that a lot of people can relate to and even give hope to, so I think that is why it has been used so often. Someone who makes it, when nobody ever thought they would or could, it is a theme that almost everyone can relate to in some way.

“Girl Goin’ Nowhere’ is all about persevering through hardship, and of overcoming the doubters. But to get there, you first have to experience that hardship, and have been tested in the furnace of life to prove you pass muster. You don’t have to be in your 30’s to experience the full spectrum of problems and lessons life can throw at you, but it’s certainly more common.”

Such powerful words, Trigger. (I feel like it’s not acknowledged enough, but your writing is so compelling that I feel it is such a strong contributor to SCM’s success.) As a college student, that sentiment and this song are relevant to me and universal to all walks of life – radio would be foolish to ignore this song. I’m grateful to The Recording Academy for recognizing what a strong artist, singer, and songwriter Ashley is, even after only one studio album.

Saw her last night and she was dynamite. Real good show.
There was an opener, Dee White, that I really enjoyed. Hadn’t Heard of him, but he was impressive and a real interesting and entertaining performance.